Jamie passion and passionfruit!

Due to time constraints I will be giving a brief comment on each of the following films seen from May to September.  Fuller comments later in the year.

Charlie Wilson’s War

 

Interesting topic, watchable without being brilliant.  Confirms Hanks and Roberts but the star again is Philip Seymour Hoffmann

 

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December Boys

 

Australian coming of age movie with boys from an orphanage led by Harry Potter, sorry, Daniel Radcliffe.  Pleasant, good photography but we’ve seen it all before.

 

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Rendition

 

Overlooked and hard-to categorise film about the persecution of mistaken terrorists post 9-11.  Meryl Streep does a good turn as a CIA bitch and Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon and Peter Sarsgard always good.

 

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Ratatouille

 

I came late to this animated movie but loved it.  Beautifully done.

 

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El orfanato

 

Well-made Spanish thriller about an old orphanage, mysterious deaths and the new tenants, who have contacts with the past and start to discover things.  Geraldine Chaplin does a great cameo as a medium, Belen Rueda is solid while the photography shines.

 

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Lust, Caution

 

Long, intriguing and creates an excellent mood but Ang Lee’s new film falls short of greatness partly because it doesn’t quite get going, so keen is it to set the idea of spies slowly worming themselves into the enemy’s camp.  Superb debut by Wei Tang and Tony Leung great as ever.  Nice to see Joan Chen in a supporting role.

 

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I could never be your woman

 

Sadly unfunny and unbelievable cliché of a comedy with Michelle Pfeiffer, Paul Rudd (who survives best), Tracey Ullmann and Saoirse Ronan.  Such talent squandered on a hackneyed script and dull direction.

 

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El Otro

 

Small, moody Argentine film which examines a man’s escape and try at being someone else.  Minimalist plot but carried a long way by the talent of lead actor Julio Chavez.  It also says a lot of director Ariel Rotter that he keeps our attention with so little spelt out.

 

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Love in the time of cholera

 

Another film brimful with talent that doesn’t make it despite all the efforts. Javier Bardem is good but I am not conviced by his casting and Fernanda Montenegro is always magnetic but Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Benjamin Bratt don’t quite get there, nor does the script which has to abridge Garcia Marquez’s prose.  Great images from Affonso Beato and music by Antonio Pinto and Shakira

 

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The Hunting Party

 

Watchable almost spoof on hunting for a Bosnian war criminal leader.  Richard Gere has fun playing the drunk and uncontrollable journalist desperate for a big scoop.  Nothing great.

 

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Elizabeth, the Golden Age

 

Very uneven sequel to the earlier film on Queen Liz 1. This time we see jealousy and court trysts and the expansion of the empire.  Lavish recreation of the period and Cate Blanchett is always good but this is not enough.

 

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Mostly Martha

 

German original of the Zeta Jones, Eckhart film on a cook and her inability to emote normally.  Passable.

 

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Definitely Maybe

 

Watchable and typical American comedy about a man who tells his daughter who her mother is.

 

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In the valley of Elah

 

Brooding film about an army father trying to track down what happened to his son, dead recently returned from Iraq.  Excellent Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron and Susan Sarandon.

 

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La Soledad

 

This year’s Goya best film from Spain generally disappoints.  It has its mood and a discreet way of showing life but doesn’t add up to so much.

 

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Oxford Murders

 

Alex de la Iglesia does Da Vinci Code in Oxford.  All in all rather pedestrian despite John Hurt and Elijah Word trying to make something out of their roles.

 

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We own the night

 

A typical New York gang-police film this time with the Russian mafia.  Good acting (notably Joaquin Phoenix), the right mood and some cool scenes including a car chase but it does not quite add up all round.

 

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El Nido Vacio

 

I found the latest by Daniel Burman to be dull and rather pretentious.  Oscar Martinez does his best but it just doesn’t work for me.

 

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Indigènes

 

Superior French war film about Algerians that gave their life for France at the end of World War II.  Good both as a war story and as a tale of great injustice.

 

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